About Lisa...
Lisa grew up in Cumbria with a passion for the outdoors, animals and pony riding. After leaving school she gained a BTEC First Diploma in Art & Design at Kendal college.
Lisa then pursued a dream to live and work with horses in the USA.
After many successful years teaching, riding and competing horses in the USA she returned to Cumbria with her family.
Lisa now lives in on Fetlar, one of Shetland's north isles, where she can be found (when taking time out from the workshop) walking the beautiful coastline with her dogs or hacking out the ponies with her two children.
Along with teaching riding and photography, Lisa has turned her hand to making beautiful hand crafted leather good for horses, dogs and their owners.
Lisa has always been adventurous and creative, but has rarely done things by the “rule-book” which has taught her some valuable life lessons. She says "I am still learning and hope I never stop."
"Anything I do in life I want to do well, to the best of my ability, I’m not one for doing things half-heartedly."
Lisa always uses good quality leather, carefully sourced from the most responsible suppliers, she uses heavy duty quality fittings and hand stitches it all securely together to create a durable, long lasting product.
"When creating items I feel it is important to ensure that they are practical, functional and have longevity. Also, to ensure that they are made from eco friendly materials that are sourced sustainably and responsibly."
Each item created is different to the next, each piece of leather is unique and as she begin to work with it the grain, colour, density of the leather often determines where a cut, fold, buckle or stitch may go, creating truly unique pieces.
"I enjoy a creative challenge and welcome any ideas for a bespoke item you may have."
About Fetlar...
Fetlar is the fourth largest of the 100 Shetland Islands, which lie at the "crossroads of the North Sea", equidistant between Scotland, Norway and the Faroe Islands.
Fetlar is known as the "Garden of Shetland" due to it being by far the greenest of all the islands. Indeed, the name Fetlar is reputed to originate from the Viking term "Fat Land", further strengthening the island's claim to be a fertile area suitable for crops. The island also is home to a diverse range of flora, fauna and wildlife, and around two thirds of the island is designated in some form, whether as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSi), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) or as an RSPB Bird Reserve.
Within Shetland, Fetlar lies to the South of Unst and to the East of Yell, its two larger neighboring islands. Together they make up the three "North Isles" of Shetland.
Although Fetlar is the fourth largest island in the group, it has one of the lowest populations.
While initially seeming to be very isolated it is not as difficult to reach as you might think.
